The psychology of staying within borders

We've all come across the typical meathead "thrash" or power fans who loathe anything that isn't "true" and about wind, fire and steel. Evocative of the mindset outlined in the status article, I have recently come upon one of the most stubborn of these fans. Yes, I am talking about a Manowar fan who happens to espouse the "wimps and poseurs leave the hall" mentality. Someone who also happens to enjoy Venom "ironically" because their campy take on Satan is "hilarious". Someone who when questioned, admitted that he thinks that people should "think less, feel more" and that as somebody who doesn't enjoy Manowar, I am "afraid of [myself]". ie. I just don't "get it ".

I have met several people like this. Especially those avid fans of 80's metal, the ones who want that decade to return because it was "the greatest". All the time they are searching for more traditional/NWOBHM. They happen to know about Satan, Judas Priest and Angel Witch for instance. But they need more. They keep looking for more of the same. They know it's the same. When confronted with this reality, they claim that other music is "untrue". But it's okay to enjoy Lady Gaga ironically because Biff Byford from Saxon hung out with her.

I don't have any revelations here. I simply aim to understand how one can enjoy more of the same? This clearly applies not only to fans of strictly traditional metal, but fans of any sort of niche whether that is music-related or not. The same pedestrian observations, the same television shows/movies/books/music, the same people to talk to, etc.

How is it that something worn down ad infinitum doesn't seem boring to people?

When you find out, let me know. If you ask me though, they've confused style and substance. Substance is some idea expressed fully through a style; disconnected style on the other hand, is just window-dressing applied to the same old crap. But style alone is really easy to grasp, so most people lunge for it.

The truth is they *don't* enjoy it so much. They just think they do, but they don't realize how unhappy they really are. It's all they know, and they don't realize to pursue higher things. They're secure - comfortable - too comfortable... too comfortable with suffering, they just bend over and keep taking it because they're in denial about the situation, they don't realizing what they're doing, their perceptions of reality and especially their own selves are inaccurate because their perceptions are all isolated from one another, overlapping and contradicting one another, an unexamined mess.

How could one NOT enjoy more of the same if the former is great? I'm surely not going "nah, I've already heard Transilvanian Hunger once before, I'm not going to put that cd on again." The only odd thing to me is that they seem to enjoy something that is not more of the same, but something similar, but worse (see: Total Death).